Op-Ed: Fight Back Against the ‘Stop the I-word’ Campaign

The PC political culture is campaigning hard to stop use of the terms “alien” and “illegal alien.” The mainstream press is tortuously contorting and elongating sentences to avoid use of the terms. A link provided below lets you fight back and hopefully put a stop to this coercive political correctness.

Bottom line, there is quite a “Stop the I-word” campaign. Look for such gymnastics in a publication or the Library of Congress near you.

A recent article in Texas briefly mentions the “undocumented” status of 34 Mexicans and Hondurans unloaded from the back of an 18-wheeler. It also shows just how far journalists will go to avoid pro-amnesty harassment. The open-borders crowd, including those in Washington, D.C. and Democratic circles, are applying pressure for PC conformity.

In describing those who were being smuggled in the huge truck, the following sentence was used in place of the legal descriptor “illegal alien.” The reporter wrote:

Police say indications at this point appear to be non-U.S. citizens attempting to enter the country illegally to find work by utilizing an organized human smuggling group.

That’s a mouthfull.

Similarly, the Los Angeles Times reported “The [Library of Congress] will now use ‘noncitizens’ and ‘unauthorized immigration’ when referring to individuals and the larger phenomenon of people residing in the country illegally.”

The California publication explained, “The library called the words more precise as well as less offensive.”

The head of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), says the Library of Congress should “continue with its process of choosing subject headings without political influence.” As if taking the action to put Library of Congress employees to work changing subject headings that have the word “alien” or “illegal alien” on them, is not choosing political headings because of “political influence.”

In reality of course, the push for change is all the result of political influence.

The Arizona court system has halted references to the “offensive” terms because of pressure by illegal alien advocates. As noted by Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) legal policy analyst Jon Feere in late 2008, “In a significant blow to the First Amendment and the use of legally-correct terminology, Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor has advanced the demands of the Arizona Hispanic Bar Association by moving to ban the following language from all of the state’s courtrooms.” He listed the banned “offensive” words:

Aliens

Illegal aliens

Resident or non-resident aliens

Illegal immigrants

Illegal immigration

Illegals

Immigration epidemic

Immigration crisis

Immigrant invasion

Pro-illegal immigration activists

Open borders advocates

Anchor babies

Proponents for amnesty

Feere accurately notes that such terms “have a precedent in the law that reaches back to the origins of the country. The first five terms are used repeatedly throughout immigration statutes and case law.”

Breitbart New reported in late March that the Library of Congress proposed cutting off use of the terms “illegal alien” and “alien.” The decision was made after a group of college students and the American Library Association objected. The students are from Dartmouth College and are in a group known as “CoFIRED” (Dartmouth Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and Dreamers).

Subject headings at the Library of Congress will replace the term “Aliens” with “Noncitizens,” and references to “Illegal aliens” will be replaced with “Noncitizens” and “Unauthorized immigration.”

In April, the Colorado House followed the Library of Congress announcement by passing a bill banning the terms from state law, as reported by Breitbart News.

The Library of Congress is taking comments through July 20. Your response to the “Stop the I-word” campaign can be made at this link.

Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.